This is a book that all gun owners and politicians should read. Iain Overton gives a frightening account about the use of guns in modern times. The book is full of chilling statistics and at the same time it is a rattling good read. The author describes a worldwide odyssey during which he sought to uncover the story behind each statistic.

I came across Iain Overton at the The Folkestone Book Festival in November when I heard him described his journey into the dark world of the gun (see https://peatmore.wordpress.com/2015/11/25 ) and bought a signed copy from his own hand. I spoke to him briefly about my astonishment that a gun factory in the United States called Kalashnikov USA had just been established in 2015. A fact I discovered while researching the novel I am currently writing. I should not have been surprised because despite the many accounts of mass shootings of civilians in the USA the influence of the pro gun lobby prevails. Unfortunately, lack of time prevented me talking with him longer but the information contained in this extremely well crafted book more than makes up for that.

It is a work that is well worth the read and I highly recommend it to anyone who wishes to know more about the lethal weapons used by loan or small groups of mass killers.

Gun Baby Gun: A Bloody Journey into the World of the Gun
by Iain Overton is published by Canongate Books; Main edition
in hardcover, paperback and as an ebook

Gun Baby Gun
This talk by Iain Overton was the most impressive I had so far listened to at the festival and it was a pity that there were so few people in the audience to hear it. In the course of his career as a television journalist for BBC, ITN and Channel 4 he had visited many countries throughout the world and compiled some alarming statistics. In some parts of the USA guns are more available than McDonald’s Hamburgers. It is an indictment of the western world that guns flow from the USA and Europe to fuel violent crime and terrorism in underdeveloped countries while drugs and illegal money flow the other way. I had no hesitation in buying his book and recommend that people and politicians who really want to understand the nature of gun violence do the same.

Gun Baby Gun: A Bloody Journey into the World of the Gun
by Iain Overton is published by Canongate Books; Main edition
in hardcover, paperback and as an ebook

The Battle of the Atlantic: How the Allies Won the War
Although I disagree with the title of his book and presentation by Jonathan Dimbleby (Hitler was a despot and madman who was bound to loose in the end), I do agree that The Battle of the Atlantic shortened the war and prevented Britain’s surrender. I learnt a number of facts of which I had been previously unaware, such as the German intelligence had been able to read Allied naval messages and pass this information to their U-boat packs or that British Navel and Bomber commanders were constantly arguing about the need to provide air cover for merchant shipping. Dimbleby had obviously done a great deal of research before producing this book and I can recommend that it is a must read for anyone who wishes to understand more about this aspect of The Second World War.

The Battle of the Atlantic: How the Allies Won the War
by Jonathan Dimbleby is published by Penguin
in hardcover, paperback and as an ebook